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Victorian Home Exteriors in Historic Downers Grove

At the beginning of this month I showed a collection of Sears catalog homes in the quaint Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. Today I’m featuring Victorian home exteriors from the same neighborhood. I loved my snowy trip to the town where my daughter lives because I found plenty of eye candy to photograph. And believe it or not, I think I have enough photos for one more post of beautiful houses from my walking tour.

dark blue Victorian home

 

This large home is my favorite of today’s line-up, although they’re all special and unique. I love the color palette of this home’s exterior and appreciate the fancy scrollwork above the front entrance, the large wrap around porch, and the turreted corner. Sigh. What’s not to love about this beauty?

Stunning painted lady house with turret and wrap around porch

 

Here’s another grand painted lady with a second story porch. There must be a door to it on the side of the house. Or maybe that porch is just decorative.

gray victorian home with turret

 

Note how the homeowners painted the foundation blocks the same shade of deep red as the accent trim.

gray victorian home with turret

 

A second floor turret is painted an accent color to give it a little more emphasis. I love when people use creativity with color on Victorian homes. They’re called painted ladies for a reason.

Turret on a Victorian house in Downers Grove

 

Extra detail was given to the trim work on this classic home. The sunburst trim at the peak of the house is easily visible due to the contrasting paint colors. And I can only imagine how long it took to paint all the details of this house, cutting in all the lines of the fancy trim.

Victorian house on a snowy day

 

You know I love a red house! This charmer enjoys a second floor above the garage at the back.

Large red Victorian house in the snow

 

Why can’t today’s builders be more creative with windows like this? I know wood window frames are expensive but they look so much better than today’s aluminum or vinyl ones.

Light blue older home in Downers Grove

 

This Victorian style farmhouse is pretty even though it doesn’t share a lot of the fancy gingerbread like its neighbors.

Dark gray farmhouse on a winter day

 

Look carefully and you’ll see Fido in the upstairs window of this pale green charmer.

Light Green Victorian style house in the snow

 

This Victorian beauty wears a slightly different shade of green.

Green Victorian home in Downers Grove, Illinois

 

If there’s one thing I wish my own Victorian house had, it’s fish-scale trim. It’d be a nuisance to paint but I love the look of it.

Victorian farmhouse with fish scale trim

 

A bright blue house stands out in the snow. The wooden front doors wear an arch and the lamp posts are an nice touch. I noticed the sign on the front lawn says Save Longfellow, which I thought might be a local dog or something. I Googled it and it turns out that Longfellow is a former school that the town decided to sell.

Bright blue Victorian home exterior

 

Bright blue Victorian home exterior

 

This historic home enjoys two sunburst motifs on its exterior.

Victorian style house with sunburst trim

 

It looks like the attic on this bright blue home was expanded with dormer windows. That would make a great teenager’s retreat, or an art studio.

Victorian homes in Downers Grove, Illinois

 

Okay. Does anyone know the significance of the big ball on the top of this home’s turret? I’ve never seen anything like this before.

Large Older Home with Wrap Around Porch

 

Next week I’ll share the rest of the beautiful, historic homes of Downers Grove. It’ll be a mix of home styles – something for everyone!

 

See More Victorian Home Exteriors:

Victorian Houses and Details to Tickle Your Fancy

Victorian Home In Upstate New York

Painting My Victorian House

Victorian House Collection with Major Curb Appeal

The Charm of a Victorian House

 

 

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13 Comments

  1. Downers Grove looks like a charming place to live. I have enjoyed the last post on the Seats houses and this post very much. Looking forward to the next post!

    1. The ball on the turret represents the Chicago world’s fair of 1898. The house was a Dickie house which is a prominent old family in town. Some of the other houses were owned by different members of that same family (including the grey house with the double porch.

  2. ALL are so beautiful! Believe it or not, we have a whole Historic District full of homes like this in our city, Ocala FL.
    I love how our nation is bound together by these simple kinds of commonality ❤️🙌

  3. We used to have a wonderful 14 room Victorian house in upstate New York state. These great photos brought back some great memories.Our second
    daughter was born up there on New Years eve.. We were young and could enjoy the cold snowy winters and very short summers, but now have retired to the much warmer climate of N.C. to a much smaller house but still love to look at Victorian homes and the great architectural features.

  4. Each and everyone has something so different and pretty. Today the houses are almost the same, they may change the brick, but not nearly as interesting as these old beauties. It would be so much fun to have a tour, to see inside some of them.

  5. All nice, I like the blue ones best. Would love inside tours of all of them. I’m so nosy when it comes to interior design..(otherwise not.)

  6. I would love to have a turret room…do you think the large ball houses a small observatory? In the dog-in-the-window house there appears to be a window set at an angle. All the details are so interesting.

  7. This is a great article!! I’m with Friends of the Edwards House a local historical preservation group. Can I post this to our Facebook page? I would also like to like Town & Country to the post. Thank you so much for putting this together!!

  8. I grew up in the nearby town of Hinsdale fifty years ago. So nice to see these beautiful homes preserved and maintained.